We began by understanding the financial access challenges foreign residents face in Korea. The research focused on how users navigate mobile banking, overseas remittance, identity verification, and financial information when language, documentation, and eligibility rules are not always clear.
This phase framed the core challenge as more than a usability issue. Users were trying to determine whether the service was reliable, whether the information was complete, and whether they were eligible to complete each task.
We conducted AI-assisted, multilingual interviews with foreign residents in Korea and analyzed app reviews to identify recurring barriers across banking and remittance journeys. Using AI support allowed us to work across multiple language backgrounds and capture more nuanced experiences around financial tasks that are often difficult to explain in a second language.
The research explored how users open accounts, verify their identity, compare fees and exchange rates, send money overseas, and recover when something goes wrong. The findings showed repeated friction around name input, mobile phone verification, ID capture, language support, transfer status, and unclear service conditions. When users could not resolve issues inside the app, they often relied on friends, community networks, online groups, or branch visits.
We mapped key user responses across authentication, remittance, and financial information access, then evaluated proposed UX concepts with foreign users. This helped distinguish surface-level usability issues from deeper trust barriers that appeared before, during, and after financial transactions.
Users responded positively to concepts that made exchange rates, fees, transfer status, and total withdrawal amounts easier to compare and verify. The evaluation also revealed different expectations across user groups: fintech users tended to value speed and simplicity, while existing users placed more emphasis on reliability and familiar banking support.
We translated the research findings into UX directions for a more accessible and trustworthy financial service. The recommendations focused on making essential financial information visible earlier, reducing uncertainty in authentication and remittance flows, strengthening multilingual support, and helping users understand available services based on their situation in Korea.
The final direction positioned the service as more than a remittance tool: a financial access platform for foreign residents. The design principles centered on clarity, trust, and contextual support: show critical information before users commit, explain limitations before errors occur, and reduce dependency on offline help or informal community knowledge.
